


Birthsong

by 12thofNever



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), second doctor - Fandom
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Platonic Cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-16
Updated: 2015-09-16
Packaged: 2018-04-21 01:31:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4809782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/12thofNever/pseuds/12thofNever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Second Doctor takes Jamie to see an amazing event on a small planet but Jamie finds something even more wonderful instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Birthsong

    "Would ye look at the size of that one, Doctor?" cried Jamie, pointing at the largest egg in the nest.  
    "Yes, Jamie, that is a big one, isn't it?" mused the Doctor. "I think that will be the main singer of the bunch."  
    "Singer? Ye mean there's gonna be singin' when they hatch?"  
    "Oh yes," the Doctor murmured with gentle reverence. "Like nothing you've ever heard before."  Jamie began to sputter something about musical beasties needing bagpipe accompaniment, but the Doctor quickly put his palm against Jamie's chest, shushing him.  
    "It's beginning. Look!"  
    It was one of the rare times the TARDIS actually took the Doctor where he wanted to go. In fact, the "old girl"--as his friend called his ship-- seemed to like this place. If indeed, Jamie thought, a space-time/chariot/thingie/flying-box could actually have a preference.  
    There came a humming noise, low and melodic at first. The Doctor clapped his hands joyfully together. "Oh, splendid! Yes, work your way out, little ones!"  
    Jamie was suddenly nervous. "You said they were lizards."  
    "Yes, yes, reptilian and quite bird-like. Winged."  
    The humming grew louder, became a drone not unlike the chanting of the Tibetan monks they had visited. Jamie began to look skyward in apprehension. "Erm, where are the parents, Doctor?"  
    "Oh, long gone by now. But these little ones start out quite self-sufficiently. "  
    "And how big do they get? Do they look like dragons?  
    "Oh, don't be ridiculous, Jamie. There are no such thing as the dragons of your mythology. That said, there are reptiles of amazing size who can became airborne in low-gravity worlds, which this is not. Well, not so much..."  
    "Do they have teeth...?"  
    "Of course they do, and quite sharp. Shush, now! Look! There's the first! Ah!"  
    The Doctor was quite giddy with anticipation, grinning toothily like a little boy. A crack formed in the first blue-striped egg and there was suddenly a single note of a sweet, pure song. Like from a violin, Jamie thought. Violins were rather nice once he had actually heard them for the first time, but they did have a tendency to make him either sad or sleepy.  
    No, bagpipes were definitely the best.  
    "Oh!" gasped the Doctor, jumping in place. Another egg cracked open, releasing yet another melodic sound, like a deeper violin. What did the Doctor say the bigger ones were? Guitars? No, cellos. This, however, didn't make Jamie any less trepidacious.  
    Finally, they all began to crack open and a tiny orchestra had begun to play. The Doctor was giggling and Jamie had taken two steps backwards as little reptilian snouts began to appear. Sticky blue bodies began to push themselves out of their shattered shells.  
    "Sharp teeth, ye say?"  
    All the time, their music grew louder, sonorous.  
    The Doctor beckoned them with his hands. "Come along, little fellows. There you are."  
    Wings unfurled from sinuous, glistening bodies, four to each hatchling, strange transparent feathers that had a sort of inner glow as they dried. The small creatures began to flex these appendages, better to dry them, and they glittered beneath the hazy lavender sun of this world. Against his better judgment, Jamie was enchanted. He grinned.  
    "Och, would ye look at that?" he laughed and met the Doctor's approving and equally sparkling blue eyes. "The wee beasties are tryin' to fly! And ah-- the sound!"  
    It stunned him, the music coming from them: it rose from a drone to a sudden soaring chorus. The little creatures suddenly seemed to find the sky at the same time, all serpentine necks straightening up in a single direction towards the swirling pink and golden clouds above. The wings lifted in unison, like the sails of tiny ships being hoisted to mast.  
    The Doctor made a strange blissful noise Jamie had never heard him make before. Something like a sob.  
    "They're going now," he said then, softly.  
    The orchestra of wee dragons was, as the Doctor had promised, nothing like Jamie would ever hear again. It was a deep, echoing and ethereal as a sacred rite. It made him quiver with the beauty of it. The quadruplicate gossamer appendages of the small blue reptiles began to vibrate like hummingbird wings (and Jamie had finally seen one of these miraculous little Earth birds as well) and he began to breathe heavier with excitement for them.  
    "Go, ye wee bairns! Go fer it!"  
    And then they were airborne, soaring upwards and then circling over their heads against the lush gilt-rose sky. Jamie, despite himself, let out a whoop of pure joy. He pumped the air with his fist in triumph for them. "That music! It's like what I imagine the faeries make! Och, Doctor, it's glorious!" Jamie laughed. "It's the most..." He stopped in mid-exclamation when he glanced over at the Doctor.  
  
"Doctor?"  
         The little dark-haired man was gazing after the spiraling shapes in the sky wistfully and Jamie  was astonished to see tears rolling down the deep grooves of his face.  
    "Doctor." Jamie's voice was soft, and all his attention had been diverted from the gorgeous spectacle of the little dragons and their magnificent music to the beloved face of his friend. He walked over to the Doctor, and gently took his friend's hand, still not taking his eyes off of the rare tears that continued to flow.  
    "It's their birth-song," whispered the Doctor, in a sort of rapture. "No matter how many times I hear it, it never fails to make me... Oh fiddlesticks." The spell was abruptly broken and the Doctor pulled his hand sharply from Jamie's grasp and reached into a deep pocket of his black frock coat. He extracted a huge red polka-dotted handkerchief with which he used to fiercely rub at his eyes. Then he blew his nose into it and this sounded like a small explosion.  
    The Doctor seemed embarrassed. "So sorry you had to see this display of mine," he muttered, irritated. "I had hoped your being here would not make me behave so foolishly."      
    "Oh, aye?" smirked the young Scotsman. "And when has me bein' with ye ever stopped ye before from bein' an idiot?"      
    The Doctor scowled at him with red, swollen eyes that now seemed greenish when saturated with tears. "I had hoped to spare you my nonsense and just show you something... beautiful."  
    Jamie had never taken his eyes off of his Doctor's face. "Aye," he said with a gentle smile, "aye, that ye did."  
           
  

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first post here (hello, everyone!) and it was one of my goals to present some cuddly Second Doctor/ Jamie character moments. I hope you like this introduction story because there's more where this came from.  
> I also ship the Master and the Third Doctor as well and future stories may get a wee bit more...angsty.


End file.
